Common Cliche
by Lidsworth
Summary: Running away with a circus is a common cliche read in story books, it wasn't meant for Naruto. However, when he's falsely accused of a crime he didn't commit and exiled from the village that now turns it's back on him and seeks to destroy him, the blond becomes desperate to live. With a side of Hinata, Naruto finds adventure in a place he least expected. The circus.


**Escape**

There was no way the village was simply letting him off of the bat, no way were they letting Naruto go out with just an exile. He wasn't stupid, he knew well that he was a jinchuuriki, simply banishing him wouldn't be an option. it would only be a matter of hours until the ANBU caught up to him and …and killed him, destroying the Kyuubi along with him.

it was the dead of night, the moon hung it's highest and a fourteen year old Naruto Uzumaki ran as fast as he could, the little belongings he had in a small bag that was clutched tightly to his chest. His situation was still foggy in his mind as he quickly took to the woods.

False accusation...murder, rage?

Naruto wasn't stupid, he would've known if he lost control. He'd been accused or set up. One second, he was walking home from ichiraku's, than the next second, he was roped in the Hokage tower, smack center in the council room being tried for the "premeditated" rage of the Kyuubi. Apparently he was working alongside it. Banishment was his "only" option, so gathering what he could, he ran.

But he wasn't stupid, he could feel larger chakra signatures edging onto him. He was a kyuubi, kill the container you kill the beast. He figured that killing him would be better then letting him fall into the hands of the Akatsuki, but truly, the village underestimated Naruto.

"Naruto Uzumaki," a muffled voice uttered from behind him.

Naruto spun on his heels and reached for a kunai, holding it in a defensive position, his blue eyes piercing the cloaked men before him.

Dangling the dagger in his fingers, Naruto counted his chances. it was four of them against one of him, the chances weren't looking entirely good. Alongside that, ANBU teams were notorious for each containing one of the four elements making the team before him a killer team. The darkness didn't help, as only slivers of moonlight shimmered.

"Uzumaki, stand down and your death will be quick and painless" another one spoke as he removed a sword from his cloak, "You'll be put under a genjutsu so you'll feel as if you are sleeping, it's necessary this way."

Naruto tightened his grip, what had Jiraiya taught him so far? Some basic rasengan techs, that wasn't enough to defend him against ANBU, but he didn't let them know that.

"Well, for your information, i'm not one to give up and i'm not just gonna let you put me to sleep and die!" he knew it was stupid, he knew that he shouldn't have charged at the ANBU, but backing down just wasn't a phrase in his vocabulary.

So he charged, he regrettably charged.

Everything happened extremely fast. Two ANBU ran towards him, weapons drawn and already in a striking position. He had too many blind spots open, he would be too slow to block their attacks, he couldn't stop himself.

"Damn it..."

Suddenly, as if out of the blew, a force pushed his assaulters away, tossing them far into the woods.

He breathed a sigh of relief, the tension in his muscles slowly easing down.

"Don't let your guard down, they'll be back soon," a small figure jumped beside him, her eyes bulged and her hands up in a defensive manner, scanning the area.

"Hinata!?" he exclaimed, suddenly more confused that he had been minutes before, "what_Did you attack_How?!_You're a criminal, and_"

Her sudden appearance rendered him speechless.

The girl didn't let her defense down, instead she kept alert, her byakugan scanning the area intently.

"i-i can see them coming!" she shouted as she firmly took Naruto's wrist into her hand and pulling him.

"Are you coming with me?" Naruto asked bewildered as he yanked his wrist from Hinata's grasps, "you can't come with me! it'll be too dangerous, go back to Konoha."

Hinata stepped back and began to twiddle her fingers, her face turning scarlet red. "i..i…didn't learn these new techniques just becauseiwanted to,ididn't defend you against the ANBU for no reason. You see Naruto, i…i l-lo_"

Shuffling from the trees brought Hinata's confession to a sudden stop. Blue eyes met lavender ones, unspoken words forming into spoken ones. Naruto didn't know exactly what he was doing, or how his next choice of words would affect his and her life, but he knew he couldn't do this alone.

"it's gonna be dangerous," Naruto stated, "really dangerous, we might not live. Are you sure you still want to come with me?"

Without a moment's hesitation, Hinata took Naruto's wrist once again and jumped to the nearest tree, her lavender eyes full of determination.

"Let's go," she responded, and suddenly, Naruto didn't feel like he was in this alone. Sure, there would be a lot of explaining later, but at least he wasn't in it by himself.

However, Naruto would have to think about the future later, they had to get there first, and with four ANBU on their tails it didn't seem too likely.

As the two further distanced themselves from the village, Naruto couldn't help but notice Hinata's apparel. it was nighttime, darkness hung about. So, it was only fitting that Hinata was in a nightgown with a backpack on. However, there was a scroll on her side held by a strap. Naruto squinted his eyes to get a better look at the pale paper rolled up together.

"The hyuga secrets," as if she was reading his mind, Hinata responded to his stares, "i needed something."

Naruto nodded and continued to jump and slowly allowed the silence to resume.

it was then that Naruto considered the fact that perhaps the ANBU tailing them had been seriously injured by Hinata's "Hyuga Secret" attack. Perhaps they'd be in the clear for a while longer, but safety like this didn't last long for Naruto.

A dagger flew past him, missing his face by an inch. "Hinata, watch out!" Naruto altered his partner. Hinata nodded, "They're caving in on us, one teleported in front of us! We're trapped!"

Naruto gulped and allowed his kneaded chakra to raise to his arms and his hands. "Kage no Bushin!" he exclaimed as he brought four fingers together. instantly beside him, four more copies of him appeared from smoke, joining him as they prepared to lock horns with the ANBU.

A squeal had alerted Naruto that Hinata was now fending for herself behind him, blocking daggers as they came at her with an incredible speed.

"Don't stop jumping whatever you do," Hinata shouted as wind blew past her, "they'll have a harder time catching us if we continue to move!" Two clones proceed ahead of Naruto, while one jumped by Hinata to deflect Kunia, and another by Naruto to defend any attacks coming from their front.

With increased speed, they overcame branches and progressed forward, now three mask appearing from the darkness behind them. Hinata's gentle fist readied, and the Naruto clone took out two daggers. With the skills they had, they collided with the ANBU. A resounding "pop" from up ahead alerted Naruto that the last ANBU was nearby, and that his clones had been destroyed.

He looked below him and cursed.

There was no point of fighting on the ground, at some time they'd jumped into a creak like area, and the wind from above was pounding on the surface of the water making it dangerous and unstable.

While distracted, Naruto let his guard down and therefore allowed the last ANBU to strike. Plowing through the blond haired shinobi, the ANBY mentally cursed as he flew through a cloud of smoke and almost into the creek water below. it had been a clone, and the real Naruto was_  
Above the ANBU, Naruto charged towards him with a rasengan. Only, he hadn't anticipated the ANBU to move at a minutes guess, and as a result, crash straight through a branch and into the roaring waves of the creek.

The clone beside Hinata dispelled.

"Naru_" while distracted, a Kunai hit her arm, the forced knocking her balance off of the tree, and like Naruto before her, sending her into the waves. She plunged under, the blood from her scar obscuring her vision. She looked through the water, mentally cheering when she saw Naruto...Naruto who was caught in the bottom due to his hand being trapped...Naruto who had barely seconds before he drowned..Naruto who was struggling to be freed.

"Naru_!" Hinata stopped herself, remembering she was underwater and had limited breath. She was being beaten by the current, it was hitting her like rocks. She was dispersing her chakra to hold on to the unstable bottom of the creek, but her injured arm made it hard for her to swim.

She had seconds to save him and herself.

The water was merciless, but so was her love for Naruto. Willing her chakra to pull her to the bottom through her feet, Hinata made it to the blond as quickly as possible. Bright blue eyes looked at her, though obscured by the water, his happiness radiated off of him. She saw his hand, it was lodged deep in the bank. The impact of the Rasengan had done this. Angling herself so her hands were around his arm, she pulled and pulled and pulled, the pain in her arm excruciating.

She didn't have much longer, neither did he. His face was already purple and she was certain hers was getting there. So, pouring a large amount of chakra into her arms, she pulled one last time. The chakra around her feet extinguished, and the two rose like ice cubes at the bottom of a glass immediately becoming nothing more than backwash from the current. The creek plunged them up, and the two gasped as they were thrown down the canal, using each other to stay afloat and dodge oncoming logs.

it wasn't much longer until the creek pulled them under again, this time the speed increasing ten fold. Naruto grabbed Hinata's wrist tightly, he was intent on not losing her. While under the water, the sky above them was darker than usual, even for being under water. And it was then Naruto knew they'd gone underground, and most likely weren't getting out anytime soon. Hinata's figure tensed against Naruto's, and as they went through twists and turns, Naruto had figured Hinata had discovered their situation as well.

Had Hinata followed Naruto just to die a criminal's death, to drown in an underground tunnel? To be shamed for the rest of her life? These were questioned that swarmed Naruto's head as he felt the oxygen slowly leaking out of his body.

Pain, emotional pain flooded his body. No more Sakura, no more Kakashi, no more dreams of becoming Hokage, no more iruka?

At least if he'd lived through the ordeal, he'd have a chance to clear his name and maybe, just maybe the village would accept him again. Maybe he and iruka could eat at ichiraku's again, if iruka even remembered him. Maybe Kakashi could teach him the chidori, maybe he could tell Sakura how he felt about her.

But no, God had other ideas. The figure pressed closely to Naruto went limp, and as the darkness overcame the blond, he went limp as well, the water from the creek pounding them and cool air from the night sky brushing against their skin.

Air, air...Naruto breathed, barely. He was out of the water...but it was too late. He was sleeping, she was sleeping, it was too late. Naruto slowly felt himself sinking under water again, Hinata with him, as she was in his iron grasps. However, the distant sounds of bells and shouts of sailors reminded Naruto that his tale wasn't over just yet, he'd be dinner first.

OOOOO

It had been four hours since they'd left, four hours since the entire crew had been stuck on a ship, once again going through another one of their smuggling phase. For four hours, he'd expected to see something exciting. A dolphin, a shark, even a mermaid. But nope, for four hours, he was left with nothing but the waves of the large river below him, the river that was steadily opening up into a river, a river that would soon take them to another country.

Sighing, he made his way down from the balcony, all hope of seeing anything exciting lost. However, two bodies slowly made their way to the surface. "Hey, Angie," the young child called to a girl sitting on shipping boxes behind him, as he excitedly leaned over a boat, his bright green eyes staring into the darkness of the water.

Quickly, the young girl ran to him, "Aknet, shut up, we're not supposed to be in fire country territory, don't yell_Are those people! Get the captain Aknet don't just stand there, go! Go!"

The boy looked bewildered at the girl beside him and ran to get help, who now stood over the boat and squinted her eyes to get a good look at the figures in the water. As she did so, beads and plates dingled off of her exotic clothing, making her sound like a walking wind chime. Her dark puffy hair danced in the night wind as she stared curiously at the couple, and the moonlight illuminated the gypsy's tan skin. Taking a telescope from her sloppily tied sash around her side, she pressed it to her eye and looked closer at the two.

Who were these two, what were they doing near the docs this late at night?

Angie pulled her dress up and stood on the balcony of the boat, tying a loose rope from the balcony handles around her waist. They weren't moving, and her little brother was taking too long to get help. When seconds counted, help was minutes away.

She jumped.

**I've always wanted to write something like this. It's been inspired by my dream to join a circus, as well as the Hunchback of Notre Dame as well, and Shakria's song "Gypsy," The Prince of Egypt and a little bit of The Bartimaeus Trilogy by Jonothan Stroud. I've had this idea for a long time, and it would work really well with this pairing. I hope you guys like it, and sorry for the first chapter, it may seemed a little rushed but i'm pressed for time. Anyway, I do not own Naruto! Have a nice week and God bless. **


End file.
